Monday, April 23, 2012

Spring days


Now that Spring has settled I've decided I absolutely must take the girls out as much as possible. Here is Evie this morning at our favourite Xing Long Park. I love this park. It's big, clean, friendly and green. There is a great big pond with fish, ducks and turtles and bridge. A baby friendly playgroud that Evie can navigate all by herself, and does.... An older child friendly playground, lots of grass, tables and trees. Clean public toilet, rubbish bins and recyle bins (this is rare in Taipei). Old folks playing checkers. There are trees and rocks to climb on the far side that Tilly and her friends get lost in for hours. The other day they were swinging on vines. Here is Evie on said far side which is full of squirrels (this side just happens to not have the grass!). Now, I"m not sure how I feel about squirrels. A lot like how I feel about monkeys... However, they provide lots of entertainment for Evie. And there is only this many squirrels because there are that many trees. Also, squirrels on this day provided us with free bread. A well meaning lady handed me a piece of fresh bread to feed the squirrels....... (I"m not sure they need to be eating white plastic bread?)........


And here is Evie making her own decision about who the bread was actually intended for. She even sat down for it.
Such a shame I didn't capture the greeness of this place. When you look up it's just a sea of green leaves. The weather is so pretty at the moment.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Fast forward to Easter!

Somehow or other I did not prepare myself for the Easter season. Of course, we've been reading the Bible, discussing the meaning of Easter and it's wonderful significance. But really what any little kid most wants of all is to celebrate it in fun. And often the case with me, things slip by and don't get done.

So, I went from "Oh my goodness today is Good Friday - how did that happen?!" to .... "Come on girls the hot cross buns are fresh out of the oven and ready to eat!" Domestic Goddess was I today. We crafted all morning. We discussed the meaning of Easter. Our new life in Christ, His ultimate sacrifice. We made gorgeous little egg baskets, that the girls will use to collect the eggs in the morning around the house for their special Easter Egg Hunt! We made Easter headbands. We punched out dough that had risen to the skies and made the most delicious hot cross buns I have ever tasted. A first attempt. It was total Easter bliss. The girls even attended a special Easter fete with their friends!

I brought back from Australia the last visit our wonderful old Children's Bible and I've been reading to them from there. Tilly is actually waiting in anticipation for 'The resurrection!' part. (And of course the eggs.....) I love how the meaning is never lost on Tilly and how she revels in the significance of both Christmas and Easter. I tend to think she is too young to truly grasp it. Silly me. Evie still feeds to sleep (ahhhh, so over breastfeeding and really wishing she wasn't!!) but it provides the perfect opportunity to pray out loud in the darkness while the girls drift off to sleep. Tills wasn't having any drifting off today! Tonight I had lots of things on my mind about what is coming up tomorrow and so didn't pray as long as I normally would have. "Mum! Keep praying!" Hahaha, Tills. Just love that kid.

We'll be rising early to 'go' on an egg hunt, I'll be up before them making more hot cross buns for a special delivery. And then an early Easter church service and then another after that to see our dearest friends E, A & J be baptised. A special Easter indeed.

Monday, April 2, 2012

The perfect beach holiday














So many photos we don't have of all the super duper fun we had with the cousins on this holiday. Well, anyway. It was truly the perfect holiday.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Memories of Mooloolaba

Complete with rocks with moss to the left, sun bathers, uncles in the water with her, 'red' hot sun. She dreamed of it all day today. Even with a three hour play in the playground and garden at the school.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Peek a boo!

Playing with her cousins.

Flower girl

Nan and Pop pretty much set her free on the garden. She would fill the basket up almost every day, at least the days it wasn't raining. It rained quite a bit while we were at the farm. Didn't spoil the fun however.

Classic Tilly shot

Collecting ants. A favourite activity. She's very good at it and no ants were harmed in the making of this shot. This is a classic pose of Tilly's while on the farm, head down and searching for things.